A motel in Branson that’s been vacant for a few years, is about to be transformed. It’s the old Days Inn on Keeter Street near the strip — renamed, “Plato’s Cave.” It will be a place that migrant workers will call home.
The motel has 423 rooms. The workers, particularly from Puerto Rico, will arrive through the J1 and H2B Visa programs.
Richard Rubin is the CEO of Repvblik LLC., the development company behind the project. They’re working with the Taney County Partnership to get the new Plato’s Cave in operation.
“We know that there’s a huge migrant workforce that swells as the hospitality industry gets busy here in the summer,” said Rubin.
Rubin says the property will have a variety of rooms for workers to choose from, based on their individual needs.
“Most of the demands will come from migrant workers of varying descriptions. Some of which are staying for six months. Some are staying for nine or twelve months and some stay considerably longer.”
And when the upgrades and renovations are complete, Rubin says tenants who stay here are going to have some new amenities to take advantage of.
“You want to make sure that they have a positive experience,” said Rubin. “Not only of the city and of the facility but of the country. So we want to make sure the pool is up and running, the hot tubs are working. That we’ve got pool table’s and ping pong and all the rest of the things in a designated area. “
“It’s the classic re-use project,” says Jeff Seifried, CEO of the Branson Chamber of Commerce. “It’s the community recycling at it’s best, as they say. So for us taking a property that was already built for similar use and making conversion out of that makes perfect sense.”
The project will be completed in phases. The first phase is expected to be completed sometime this summer — ready to house up to 900 workers.
